Gunther bill would protect sportsmen-permit privacy

A local lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would clamp down on the information the state could disclose when people apply for sportsmen licenses.

Victor Whitman

A local lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would clamp down on the information the state could disclose when people apply for sportsmen licenses.

Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, D-Forestburgh, presented a bill along with Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, that would prevent the Department of Environmental Conservation from releasing information on hunting, fishing and trapping permits and licenses, except to law enforcement.

The goal of the legislation, according to a memo that goes with the bill, is to protect individual privacy and possibly curb identity theft.

The Times Union in Albany last week panned the measure in an editorial, saying New York could be on "a slippery slope" toward greater secrecy. The Times Union noted the newly enacted gun law enables pistol-permit owners to request their names be withheld from disclosure.

The editorial said: —» the bill's proponents may hope to capitalize on a sudden momentum toward government secrecy and slip this idea through under the guise of personal privacy "»"

Robert Freeman, executive director of the state's Committee on Open Government, said information on licenses, including the identity of the applicant, "should be public."

Freeman said a person needs to meet a certain standard or qualification to obtain a license or permit, and the license should be open to public scrutiny.

"It seems the public should have the right to know who is qualified," Freeman said.

Jack Danchak, president of the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs of Sullivan County, said he wasn't aware Gunther was sponsoring the measure but appreciated it.

"Why would they put that (information on a license) in the paper if I didn't want it there?" Danchak said. "It is my privacy. It is my decision, isn't it?"

Gunther, who noted that the bill has been around since 2006, said she was asked by Grisanti to carry it; she wouldn't speculate on its chances of getting out of the Assembly.

"We have been working on budget bills," she said. "I certainly will discuss it with the chairman."